Customer Reviews

Maya

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is what You get if You throw a mistery,a philosopy book,a natural sciences paper and the talking gecko of human condition in the same pot, and then cook it for a while.Excellent combination.However,I don't recommend it for a first timer Gaarder reader, the Joker idea first appears in"The Solitaire Mistery",which is an easier, more playful read,therefore You should start there,(and Sophie's world,if You want to know more about the history of western philosophy.)It's a non stop brain storming that'll require Your full attention and it is so worth it.

Most of us - as a thinking kind - wonder about life , its origin , its purposes , its perpetual enigmatic journey that flourish among humans and other species ...

we do have questions that tangle us , even haunts us when gazing through our timeline , here on earth ... is it all futile ? is it in vain ? or are we really part of a masterplan came out of a real twisted yet brilliant entity that gathered data and arranged it into our so-called common universe ..

Gaarder takes all of these puzzles - and i call them puzzles because i believe its something coherent this rise of thinking systems on our planet - and creates this drastic novel about life , destiny , deity , our great concerns ...

if you are not satisfied with the descartian definition of being , this book is for you ...

There are few books that leave me puzzled but also thorouhgly satisfied, this is one of them. Gaarder is a masterful author, quickly becomign one of my favorites as I read more of his work. Like several of his other works, this story takes place on several levels and among the fiction he also weaves in a good layer of fact, throwing in some historical facts, but in this case focusing on some evolutionary theory. Like other Gaarder works as well, as soon as you feel that you've gotten the book figured out, it takes a sharp turn and goes down an entirely new path. It was so startling, that I had to flip back and skim through most of the book to make sure I hadn't missed anything that big. However, I hadn't. This is truly a satisfying read, and one that I'll definitely be going back to.

I love this book! Just like other Gaarder's books, this book also challenge our views through the simple and beautiful world of philosophy.

I recently encountered Jostein Gaarder books for the first time and was instantly enchanted. Maya has only increased my respect for the author. Not only is he Philosopher in this volumn, but he is Naturalist and, as always, the superb story teller. I love how he tied in this book with his excellent Solitaire Mystery. This is as good as any book to get acquainted with this phenomenal author.

'Maya' by Jostein Gaarder was an excellent book. I believe it to be well written, and I enjoyed how it tied in the 'deck of cards' motif, which was of course reminiscent of the 'Solitaire Mystery', also by Gaarder.
As a philosophical novel, 'Maya' covered many bases that most philosophical/religious novels do not tend to think about. It nicely tied in evolutionary theory to various philosophical and religious viewpoints.
Despite my praise, I'd say that the average American most likely would not appreciate 'Maya'. But everyone should read it anyway.

Great book! I would certainly recommend it to anyone who's into philosophy, great narratives, addicted and exciting.

Maybe it's because I actually *am* a biologist and a conservationist, but I am also fond of literature and I found this book long-winded, repetitive, unevenly paced, and terribly contrived. The ending is a big letdown, and ultimately very unsatisfactory. I like my loose ends to be left for the reader to chew over, whereas Gaarder pretty much ties up all the answers to complex questions too neatly in a big sickly-saccharine package. The story-within-a-story frame was completely unnecessary and ultimately took away from the faux mystique so painstakingly (and painfully, for this reader) set up for the first two-thirds of the novel. The whole story could have been told in half the space, and there are too many pat revelations and simplistic solutions. The final paragraph is utterly bizarre and out of joint with the rest of the book. I should have stopped reading right at the beginning, when I realized I don't at all share the narrator's debilitating fear of death. It's an old theme, and one that is not very well covered by this book. The vague attempt at a theory of alternate realities and time travel was mildly gripping, but even that was discarded in the end. I wish I'd read this faster, or not at all.

If I could sit through a whole reading of sophie's world i thought i could for any book, until i bought maya.
as lovely as its sypnosis sounds, i didnt even get to the part where the strangers are trapped on the island.. or so it seems.
Reading the first 10-20 pages are already a pain.
Read if you have nothing else better to do and you're bored... then again, it'll probably bore you even more.